Yay! We started our house church services!

Well, I guess what I mean is we started them 'officially'. We have been having house church with our family for over a year now. But, having just moved to a new house last September (you wonder why lately my posting has been so sporadic!) and having a baby due in just 11 days, we did not feel ready to have others join us. But now we have placed our house church on the house2house house church locator (though they will not update it for a week or so). And have been feeling free to invite others. We have read, not too long ago, about how Saul was looking for his donkeys and went to see Samuel the prophet to ask his help. When he arrived, the Lord let Samuel know that he was to anoint Saul king over Israel. Samuel told Saul that he was expected and that a place of honor was reserved for him at a banquet table! We talked about how we should all be ready for the unexpected visitor and that, even though we may not think someone might come on a particular Sunday, or Saturday night, God may be sending them to us. So we started having the food prepared, making sure we were all dressed appropriately and that we were ready to pull out extra seats and dishes. We also started outlining what we do on a separate blog Friendsville House Church . So here we go...!

VeggieTales...You Gotta Love 'em!

I just got through watching the Veggie Tales movie, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”. It was hilarious and very well done. Three wimpy and cowardly busboys in a pirate-themed restaurant who are transported to a real swashbuckling world and called to be heroes in an adventure to rescue a princess from a terrifying pirate avoiding walking mountains of rock and man-eating cheese curls…now that’s an awesome movie right there! I remember seeing complaints on their website by parents who didn’t like that it wasn’t based on a biblical story. The fact that they were dense enough to miss the amazing spiritual message is unreal. It was incredible and just what I needed to hear.

The message was in-your-face saying that God calls everyday “busboys” to be heroes…and what are heroes? Ordinary people who do what is right no matter what the cost. I think Pa Grape had the best line in the whole film (non-comedic line, that is). He was a father who’s son, it was said, thinks he is such a loser he doesn’t want to hang out with him. Pa Grape says, “maybe the reason my son doesn’t look up to me is because I haven’t given him much to look up to”. Wow, how many fathers (including me) would be challenged by that line.

Then come Mr. Lunt who is completely lazy and always stops when he sees the road ahead might be too difficult or energy consuming. And Larry the cucumber who is very cowardly always talking about his list of things that scare him.

I am all three of these characters. I’ve given in to temptation so many times that I have often made myself a loser like Pa Grape. Even now I look at the monumental tasks that are in front of me and sigh thinking that the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is too faint to be real like Mr. Lunt. I ask, "Can I really take care of my family? Can I really live a pure life? Is it actually possible to be a man that is truly sold out to God?" And I constantly think of terrible things happening to me or my family living in fear like Larry. Loss of job, home catching on fire, nationwide disaster, terrorists, invading armies on our shores, or just someone breaking into my home and harming my family when I am at work. I can think up any number of tragedies that probably will never happen.

But the truly sobering part of the message of this movie is that when God calls you, he gives you everything you need to complete the task. Everything you need…wow. I remember once scene when the danger was great and the little gizmo that brought them to the adventure was blinking its blue light. That meant that they could push the button and go home or stay and continue to try to save the princess. Of course, they chose to stay but later found out it was just a test to see if they would make the right decision. How many times have I failed the test? I want to pass it next time!

In the end, as they prepared to leave they were invited to stay and remain as heroes in the days of sail and adventure. Pa Grape says, “no thanks, life is enough of a great adventure for us”. When God calls, He doesn’t call to a mundane boring existence but to a great adventure. We are on that now and when danger lurks, tragedy strikes or the task seems too monumental to overcome, that’s when the adventure becomes the greatest. AND that’s when we (I) need to remember that God has given us ALL we need to succeed…In His eyes!

God has called us to do something amazing. To be a house church. I can’t say I am sure what that is except that we are to be a representation of the Body of Christ in our home and community. What else will happen? Well, I don’t really know…it’s an adventure. But God has given us everything we need to accomplish that task. Our job is to do what is right…no matter what the cost!

"Group" -What Church is Suppose To Be

A Sabbath Day In House Church

Whenever you talk about "house church" the first question others ask is, "so what does a house church service look like?". Well the answer is probably as varied as the number of house churches in the world. Like any church service, the characteristics are as unique as the people that make up the congregation. We are still in the transitional stage of our house church and our gathering involves our own family at this point (we are still "nucleic"). We have tried many different things for our times of worship together from worship on hiking trails in the Smoky Mountains that involved a scripture study, singing as we walked and spontaneous discussion. We tried using printed Bible-study materials to help guide our discussions at home (more like a traditional Bible-study)which was probably the least liked of anything we have attempted. The more we drifted into the "old" way of doing church the less effective our service was.

Saturday Evening

The way we "do" church now has sort of evolved from our times of Bible reading and talking around the dinner table. On Saturday evening we started having a time of singing and playing instruments together. This has come from many times of spontaneous singing that occurs in our house. Dad plays guitar and Mom sings and this usually attracts the kids who sing along or drag out the hand-drums or many other percussion type instruments laying around the house.

Sunday Afternoon

On Sunday afternoon we have lunch together sometimes beginning with the breaking of bread and cups of juice and have a more "formal" communion time. Although we consider every meal we eat together to be communion. As we finish our meal we have a scripture reading (at the moment we are reading through the book of Acts). At the conclusion of the reading usually all I have to do is wait. The kids often have a boat-load of questions. The discussion is spontaneous sometimes sticking with the passage read and often drifting to other topics. Almost always we learn and discuss much deeper truths and dig-in fairly well to the scripture passage. We then pray around the table as each person suggests prayer requests within our family or involving friends or more distant family members. The kids (6 and soon-to-be 8 years old)are always ready to share, pray and ask questions.

We do are not trying some Orthodox Jewish Saturday night-Sunday morning thing to make some sort of theological statement. It just worked out that way. The most awesome elements include the spontaneity and the relaxed atmosphere. Nothing formal and stiff, nobody waiting to see what the "leader" will do next. Our worship times are "led" but they are not dictated, it's not just our family but the family of God learning and sharing together. We are looking forward to inviting others to join us and as soon as that happens we will provide an update on how it goes:)

How Novel Is God?

I, like so much of today's American culture, become excited by the novel. I like to try new things. When I pastored in a traditional church setting the congregation never knew what to expect. I might do a skit, story (sometimes with big props), a multisensory type of activity, and on and on. I have about ten different "hobbies" that I may or may not engage in on a regular basis. The "new" gets "old" so fast that I am ready to move on to something else. I wonder, though, if church was ever meant to be novel?

It's all the rage, from the mega-church to the emerging church, to be novel and do things or even adopt philosophies or world-views that would attract the "masses". From children's programs with huge stage productions to full-blown movie theater settings with popcorn. But is this how church is supposed to be?

I think we can bring the whole intent of the Church down to one goal. To develop the individual's relationship with God and thier relationship with other believers. It's about growth in love. Now when I grow in love with my wife the novel really doesn't come into place. We like to do some new things together but that doesn't necessarily help our relationship along. What builds our relationship is doing the same "old" things over and over; communicating, sharing, resolving conflict, forgiving, learning to live together and love each other. It's hard work and rarely novel.

Maybe this infatuation America has with the novel has something to do with our horrendous divorce rate. It's easier to go on to a new and novel relationship than to deal with the "old lady" at home. And maybe that's why so few Christians have an authentic and growing relationship with Christ. Reading your Bible and praying just gets "old" and so we need books to give us new and novel ways to pray and we need "one-minute" devotionals so that, even though Bible reading may be "boring", at least we can make it short. And yet these are the things that build our relationship with God while only 2% or less of "Christians" practice them on a regular basis. Even more "laborous" is the act of (gasp!) communicating with other believers. Sure we chit-chat over potlucks and in the foyers but do we really share? Does anybody at your church really know "who" you are? Is there anyone you would call a fellow believer that you can share all your "secrets" with and are confident you could tell anything to?

If you are like 98% of Christians the answer is "no way!!".

Why do I think House Church is God's answer for us? It's hard and laborous but it brings my family and I together. It's not "novel" as we do the same things over and over, but we share and are learning and growing together like I have never experienced in any "building" that is supposed to be designed for such a purpose. You will never find anything novel in the Scriptures about the gathering of the Church. Paul never writes, "if you get bored, try this or that to liven things up a bit!" Yes, God is always up to something new but you don't find it by doing "novel" things you find it by getting into His presence through His word and in prayer and becoming intimately connected with other believers, offering yourself in sacrificial service to the needy and doing all those "old" things.

some thought provoking videos

Community Christian Church deals with being a "Christ-Follower" vs. being a "Christian"...I like the message but I think its rather ironic that the name of the church is Community Christian Church:)

Accountability For a House Church

Accountability is very important to me. I believe that every Christian should have someone that they are accountable to. I believe that every gathering of Christians should have a group or person they are accountable to. I think that we will need Biblical accountability and someone to advise on issues like how to work with tithes and offerings. I don't think that a heirarchy of Christians is Biblical but we do need accountability among the body.

I am an ordained minister of a large denomination and I have been called out of the traditional church environment into the house church. Officially I am an "unassigned" pastor, but I never intend to pastor a traditional church again. We are starting a house church and only have our family at this point. I have talked to the leaders of the church planting department of the denomination and they assume that the house church is simply a phase that a core group uses to transition to owning a building and becoming an "official" congregation. Pretty funny, huh? One thing that I have to give my denomination is that they are very open to diverse forms of church and have welcomed (carefully) some groups that define themselves as part of the emergent church movement. House church is just something, I suppose, our leaders have never considered. As we move forward in this journey I wonder what will happen when, and if, I decide to present the house church idea to my district leaders.

I don't have a problem with my denomination in terms of theology or, at least not necessarily, leadership. What I have been called away from is the organizational structures and forms. The new wineskins that should have contained the new wine that was poured out one hundred years ago when our denomination began. In fact, my vision is to see a house church network that is threaded throughout every district in our denomination.

My desire is to present our church as something somewhat loosely connnected to the denomination. As we grow we will, as a church, decide how this connection will develop. In the book, "Starting a House Church", the authors take great pains to drive home the point that they believe that God will use all current forms to reach the world for Christ. This includes house church, of course, traditional churches, and mega churches. So is it possible to add house church to an existing denomination and not comprimise the effort to return to a New Testament model of community?